1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus of displaying and evaluating motion data in a motion game apparatus, and more particularly to methods and apparatus of playing the motion data so that a game player can easily follow the motion of an original actor using computer graphics, collecting the player""s motion data in real time and evaluating the motion of the player.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, what is called, the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) type of game apparatus has been gaining in worldwide popularity. DDR has a music playing device and a floor that senses discrete footsteps (e.g. place right foot on the north-west corner) of a game player. In DDR, the specific foot actions the game player must follow and their relative timings are shown on the screen as the music is played. The goal of the game is to produce as many correct footsteps at the right time as possible.
In the spirit of making the game based on more realistic dance motion (rather than simple discrete foot steps), a slightly updated version of this type of dance game has been introduced by a number of companies. They are mostly based on an attachment of sensor modules that detect discrete hand/arm actions (e.g. pass right hand through the right hand sensor) in addition to the foot action sensing floor.
However, these schemes still fall very short of inducing realistic and natural dance (or any other motion) and evaluating the player""s continuous motion. This is because discrete foot/hand actions are far different from actual dances (or any other motion) custom-choreographed for particular music pieces.
It is therefore the objective of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned problem by presenting motion data (e.g. actual dance) so that the player can easily follow it, by capturing the player""s motion and by comparing and evaluating it against the original motion data.
Furthermore, it is the other object of the present invention to provide a method of capturing and evaluating player""s motion data in xe2x80x9creal timexe2x80x9d (as the dance is being performed) in order to provide effective feedback and thus training.